Crustacean’s claw may be suited for battle

by Blog Burger on June 9, 2012

Researchers have figured out how a tiny tropical crustacean packs an outsized punch. And they are using that knowledge to engineer super-durable materials that could protect troops in the line of fire, among other useful applications. The peacock mantis shrimp, scientific name Odontodactylus scyllarus, isn’t actually a peacock, a mantis or a shrimp. It’s a stomatopod, a member of a group of aggressive ocean-dwellers that use outsized appendages to smash, slash or spear their heavily shelled prey. It gets its name because of its colorful, shrimp-like appearance and speedy, mantis-like “feeding strike,” said David Kisailus, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at UC Riverside,…